Month: May 2017

Uncle Willie in 1965, when he was a NSW Amateur Boxing champion, training with other boys at Kinchela Boys’ Home. Photo: State Library of NSW

Thank you for joining us to hear the third in our series of podcasts commemorating Sorry Day and National Reconciliation Week 2017.

In today’s episode, William Leslie (affectionately known by his colleagues at Eora TAFE as Uncle Willie) tells us about his life. Uncle Willie was taken from his family at the age of 12 and placed with other Aboriginal children in the Kinchela Boys’ Home near Kempsey on the NSW north coast. He went on to become Australian amateur boxing champion, and in 2000 ran in the Sydney Olympic torch relay. Boys in Kinchela were known by number, not name. Many of the children were never reunited with family, and remain scarred by their experiences to this day.

This episode was produced by Certificate 4 Radio Broadcasting students Jules Hume and Daniel Rosenberg. Our thanks go to Uncle Willie, Director of Eora College Danny Allende, and our hosts at Eora TAFE.

You can read more about the painful memories of the boys from Kinchela here. Read about Sorry Day and the stories of the Stolen Generation here. The full Bringing Them Home Report – important reading for all Australians – is available here.

We would like to offer our respect and appreciation to the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and also thank our brothers and sisters at Eora College for so generously offering us their wisdom and knowledge and for telling us their stories, many of which are so painful to relate.

The students and staff of Sydney TAFE Media welcome you to Part 2 in a series of podcasts commemorating Sorry Day and National Reconciliation Week 2017.

Today Dallas Wellington, a Jerinja man from the Wandandian Nation and Head Teacher of Foundation Studies at Eora College, speaks with Certificate 4 Radio Broadcasting students Talecia Vescio and Miles Davies.

In this podcast Dallas explains that it’s taken more than 200 years for non-Aboriginal Australians to realise the value of the culture and stories of the land’s first people – culture and stories Aboriginal people have always wanted to share.

We would like to offer our respect and appreciation to the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and also thank our brothers and sisters at Eora College for so generously offering us their wisdom and knowledge and for telling us their stories, many of which are so painful to relate.

Please join us for a series of podcasts commemorating Sorry Day and National Reconciliation Week 2017.

A new episode will be uploaded here each day, starting today with a podcast by Certificate 4 Radio Broadcasting students Talecia Vescio and Miles Davies, who spoke with Gadigal elder Uncle Ray Davison, Director of Eora College Danny Allende, Diploma of Music student Pollyanna Thomson and other guests at Sydney TAFE’s Sorry Day ceremony on May 26.

We would like to offer our respect and appreciation to the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and also thank our brothers and sisters at Eora College for so generously offering us their wisdom and knowledge and for telling us their stories, many of which are so painful to relate.

The day kicks off National Reconciliation Week that concludes on June 3, the 25th anniversary of the landmark Mabo decision that paved the way for the Native Title Act. The week also marks 20 years since the Bringing Them Home report, and 50 years since the May 27, 1967 referendum that gave Aboriginal people the vote and allowed them to be included in the national census.

“It was great because it means a lot to the people in the audience and across Australia,” Pollyanna said.

“It’s great to be able to deliver something that means so much. When I first heard the song and looked at the lyrics to learn it, I was quite shocked because it was about the fact children were stolen.

“It’s quite powerful and it felt really nice to perform for that audience. I hope it helps them get through it.”

She said for her the day represented an acknowledgement of Australian history, what had happened and “saying sorry”.

“It’s all about knowing what was done, knowing that things are wrong.”

Pollyanna, who finished high school last year and is now studying for a Diploma of Music at Ultimo, only had two days to prepare the song.

“I’m happy with how I performed and I’m happy it went well. I got good feedback from everyone and I really enjoyed it,” she said.

“We had ceremonies at my school acknowledging Sorry Day but I had not performed before for an event like this. It’s nice to be a part of it.”

Listen to the Sorry Song and our first podcast commemorating Sorry Day and Reconciliation Week 2017 here.

CELINE SALAMEH speaks with some strong young women in western Sydney about what being a “princess” really means.

The Anti-Princess Movement was originally a blog created by parents who want more for their daughters than the mindless idolisation of princesses that has swept the nations.

It was made in the belief that young girls around the world should be allowed the intelligence and the freedom to choose their own futures, without society forcing upon them the expectations of pink, frilly dresses and an over-preoccupation with body image and reliance on the opposite sex.

The founder of the movement, Samantha Turnbull says: ‘My only goal is to inspire other parents or guardians to take a long, hard look at the growing trend of princess-dom that has afflicted our society. What values are we teaching our young girls? How does this contribute to the manner in which females are subsequently viewed by their male counterparts?’

Disparities in the representation of men and women in children’s media has long been an issue.

In recent studies, academics at Florida State University found that gender bias in books has existed for more than 100 years. They identified that in almost 6,000 picture books published between 1900 and 2000, only 7.5% depicted female protagonists. And that is just one aspect of children’s media!

“If all children read is about princesses waiting to be saved by a prince, then the message they learn is that women are not as valuable as men – that we are not equals,” says Samantha. “We need to start early and show children of a young age that men and women are absolutely equal.”

“Get ready for a broken F*&$!@% arm!” barks Aussie skipper Michael Clarke at bemused English bowler James Anderson in the latter part of the first Ashes test in 2015.

With those aggressive and crushing words a fire was lit between two of the longest standing rivals in cricket history. Never before had such volatile language been heard and transmitted to households across the world.

Cricket has long been valued and respected as a gentleman’s game, with honour being given to the laws of cricket as well as in the way it is supposed to be played. Of course that can be open to interpretation.